SOURCE: “Kerouac among the Fellahin: On the Road to the Postmodern,” in Modern Fiction Studies, Vol. 41, No. 2, summer, 1995, pp. 265-83.

In the following essay, Holton explores Kerouac's approach to racial issues in On the Road.

We need studies that analyze the strategic use of black characters to define the goals and enhance the qualities of white characters. Such studies will reveal the process of establishing others … so as to ease and to order external and internal chaos. Such studies will reveal the process by which it is made possible to explore and penetrate one's own body in the guise of the sexuality, vulnerability, and anarchy of the other.

—Toni Morrison (52-53)

“It's the world,” said Dean. “My God!” he cried, slapping the wheel. “It's the world! We can go right on to South America if the road goes on. Think of it! Son-of-a-bitch! Gawd-damn!”